Tag: How to handle alcoholics

AMSTERDAM (AP) — The men streaming in and out of a small clubhouse in east Amsterdam could almost be construction workers at the end of a hard day, taking off their orange reflective vests and cracking jokes as they suck down a few Heinekens, waiting for their paychecks. But it’s only noon, the men are alcoholics and the beers themselves are the paycheck.

In a pilot project that has drawn attention in the Netherlands and around the world, the city has teamed up with a charity organization in hopes of improving the neighborhood and possibly improving life for the alcoholics. Not by trying to cure them, but instead by offering to fund their drinking outright. Participants are given beer in exchange for light work collecting litter, eating a decent meal, and sticking to their schedule.

“For a lot of politicians it was really difficult to accept, `So you are giving alcohol?'” Amsterdam East district mayor Fatima Elatik said. “No, I am giving people a sense of perspective, even a sense of belonging. A sense of feeling that they are OK and that we need them and that we validate them and we don’t ostracize our people, because these are people that live in our district.”

What the hell can go wrong with giving alcoholics dignity to earn their alcohol? All I suspect is that this will not end well for them either. What if the drunkards want German beer instead? or worse: Belgian beer! This is gonna cause problems. As long as nobody is spilling the stuff nobody can be accused of alochol abuse, I guess. What about a program for sex adicts? Bill Clinton wants to know….